Episode 212 of the award-winning series The 90's. This episode is called "AN IMPRESSIONISTIC VIEW OF LIFE IN JAPAN" and features the following segments:

2:23Copy video clip URL “Trip to Japan” by Jane Aaron. Aaron takes us to see Japan.

5:07Copy video clip URL Japanese commercials.

7:36Copy video clip URL Jon Woronoff commentary by Eddie Becker. Woronoff, an author and businessman, talks about foreigners’ misconceptions about Japan. “The reason foreigners are fooled about Japan is because there are two levels of perception in Japan. One is called “tatumai” and it means “illusion,” or what one likes to consider things being. The other is called “honei” and it means “truth,” or the way things actually are in practice. When the Japanese speak to foreigners they speak “tatamai” – they say that things look better than they really are, that everything in Japan is harmonious, tranquil and peaceful. When they speak to Japanese, they speak “honei” – that is, they speak the truth and this is the way it is in their written articles and in the television media.”

10:50Copy video clip URL “The Zenshuji Zendeko Drummers” by Nancy Cain. A team of Japanese boys play drums in Los Angeles.

11:13Copy video clip URL “Japanese-American Internment.” A look back at the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Featuring a vintage propaganda film starring Ronald Reagan and later footage of him offering reparations to the victims of internment. Frank Emi remembers this dark period of American history. “Our Civil Rights were stripped away even though Naval Intelligence and FBI had completely cleared Japanese-Americans of any espionage.” He remembers that even liberal politicians like Earl Warren jumped on the bandwagon. “Reagan’s pardon took over 40 years…it took too long!”

17:38Copy video clip URL “Yen For Baseball “by John Antonelli and Will Parrinello. Docmentary about newly formed Japanese baseball teams. American managers and umpires comment on Japanese ball-playing style while Japanese fans name their favorite players. An American accouncer comments, “They’re so kind and courteous. They don’t want to embarrass anyone, if we win, let’s win 2-1, it’s okay to tie the game.”

29:42Copy video clip URL Oklahoma commercial. Businessmen from Chickasha, OK, advertise free land to Japanese businessmen to move an industry to their town.

30:32Copy video clip URL Jon Woronoff continues to dispel myths about Japan. “Not all Japanese companies offer lifetime employment, only the large Japanese companies don’t lay off workers. Small companies, on the other hand, have to fire massive numbers of people.”

31:05Copy video clip URL In a clip from Japanese TV (NHK), a Japanese manager counsels a worker out of his job.

32:07Copy video clip URL Ralph Nader commentary by Eddie Becker. Nader decries the failure of American capitalism. “In 1980, the top executives of Fortune 300 companies were earning forty-five times what entry level employees were earning. Today it’s ninety times as much. In Japan, the head of Toyota earns eight times what an assembly plant worker earns. We’ve had a massive failure of our managerial class here in the U.S.”

38:45Copy video clip URL Music video for the song “Sushi Baby” by Bianca Miller.

40:00Copy video clip URL Japanese girl eats in some sort of a petting zoo.

40:15Copy video clip URL Japanese commercials.

40:43Copy video clip URL “Doug Michels on Japanese TV.” Michels is seen on Japanese TV talking about his projects such as Cadillac Ranch, an art piece done by The Ant Farm, and Bluestar, a futuristic think tank in space, and a proposal for a 50’s-style theme park, Cadillac Fin, in Japan.

49:50Copy video clip URL More Jon Woronoff commentary. “The worst New York subway situation is nothing compared to Japan. In Japan , the subways are filled to four or five times capacity. They actually have “pushers” – people who push passengers into the trains. It’s mind-boggling. Japanese people travel this way day in and day out. Americans couldn’t stand it. They would get claustrophobic.”

50:56Copy video clip URL Japanese commercials.

51:54Copy video clip URL “Trip to Japan – Peace Park in Hiroshima” by Jane Aaron. Over visuals of Hiroshima’s Memorial Park, Harry S. Truman’s voice explains the dropping of the Atom bomb. “I never had any qualms about it. I wanted to end the war in victory with the least possible loss of U.S. lives. The bomb was just another piece of artillery, and as Napoleon once said, ‘The Lord is on the side with the heaviest artillery.'” Truman’s nonchalance is contrasted heavily with the testimonial of a Japanese woman describing the death of their countrymen from radiation poisoning.

54:49Copy video clip URL Ronald Reagan acts in more U.S. government industrial films.

Additional Credits

paintbox, Rich DuCasse; major collaborator, Scott Jacobs; titles & effects created at Independent Programming Associates; opening sequence produced by John Anderson; opening film sequence by Tom Finerty; original music by The Cleaning Ladys; for KBDI, director of programming and production, Diane Markrow; post-production facilities, The Center for New Television, Chicago; funded in part by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Instructional Telecommunications Foundation, Inc.; copyright 1990 The Center for New Television